Tread the Brink of Dreams
by whimsycality
Summary: Alternate universe in which Tess emerged from her pod before Nasedo found her and a certain Roswell family gained a new member. Sequel to Edge of Shadows, pre Polar.
1. Chapter One: A Beginning

**Title:** Tread the Brink of Dreams; Book Two in the Chains of Fate Series  
**Spoilers:** All of Roswell is up for grabs though it seriously differs from canon**  
Category: **UC, AU, Ensemble Fic**  
Rating:** Mature  
**Pairings:** Pre-Polar, Max (and Maria) Friendly although not necessarily GZ pairing, no real pairings until the sequel, brief OC/OC pairing at the end**  
Summary: **Alternate Universe in which Tess emerged from the pod before Nasedo found her and a certain Roswell family gained a new member.**  
Warning: **Character death (Not one of the gang)**  
Disclaimer:** The characters of Roswell belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.

**A/N:** This is the companion to Walk the Edge of Shadows but it does not follow directly in the timeline. This goes back to the beginning of childhood and shows you some different character perspectives as well as revealing more of the AU nature of this series. It won't necessarily show the same dates or events as the first story and like Shadows will jump around so pay attention to those date headers. Also, if you haven't read Walk the Edge of Shadows you will be confused, go read it!

Oh and the poem quoted in Edge of Shadows that all of the titles for this series are taken from was original, but the lines below are the lyrics to the song 'Never Say Never' by Train which I do not own.

**Betas: **This story has actually had three fabulous betas, Keri Anne who is now answering the call of real life, and currently the amazingly talented Kathy and Ashita are both helping me with the series so all of them deserve massive thanks.

* * *

_Some things we don't talk about_  
_Rather do without and just hold the smile_  
_Falling in and out of love_  
_Ashamed and proud of, together all the while_

_You can never say never_  
_While we don't know when_  
_But time and time again_  
_Younger now than we were before_

_Don't let me go_  
_Don't let me go_  
_Don't let me go_

_Picture, you're the queen of everything_  
_Far as the eye can see under your command_  
_I will be your guardian when all is crumbling_  
_I'll steady your hand_

_You can never say never_  
_While we don't know when_  
_But time, time and time again_  
_Younger now than we were before_

_Don't let me go_  
_Don't let me go_  
_Don't let me go_

_We're pulling apart and coming_  
_Together again and again_  
_We're growing apart but we pull it together_  
_Pull it together, together again_

_Don't let me go_  
_Don't let me go_  
_Don't let me go _

_**Chapter One: A Beginning**_

_July 20__th__, 1989_

The little girl stared out the window and watched the trees fly by, unable to decide if she was happy or sad. Their vacation had been wonderful; she loved the ocean and never wanted to leave the seashell littered beaches, or her Aunt Rachel's house; it had so many neat things in it.

On the other hand she was looking forward to being home again. School was going to start soon and unlike most little girls she looked forward to First Grade. Also her Grandma Claudia was coming for a visit and she was her absolute favorite relative, even more than Aunt Rachel.

So as she was a generally happy child she decided to be happy about going home then, and all of the things she had to look forward to. Smiling softly she settled back in her seat and returned her attention to the world outside the small car.

It was that time of day right before nightfall when everything was pale and grey as if the world was preparing itself to fall asleep. Her friend Maria thought it was creepy but she had always found it very pretty.

Suddenly her daddy yelled one of those words she was not supposed to say and her mommy screamed. There was a loud squeal and a thud and then she was lifted from her seat. Her seat belt, which had not been all the way pushed in, came loose and she hit the window with a crunch.

She heard the sharp tinkling sounds of broken glass like when she had dropped mommy's favorite vase and then she was cold, really cold. Someone was pouring warm water over her, only the water was red and it hurt and she wanted whoever it was to stop.

Her eyes had grown heavy when a small face with big blue eyes and soft blonde curls appeared in front of her. There was a strange golden glow and then she was warm again. Brown eyes met blue and two matching smiles lit up the night with their own special brilliance.

_July 23__rd__, 1989_

The small blonde huddled under the bed and pressed her face into her knees, everything was so confusing. She had been warm and safe and when she woke up they were supposed to be there. She did not know who they were, she could not remember no matter how hard she tried, but she knew they had not been there and she was all alone.

So she had crawled out of the dark place and out onto the hot sand and walked, trying to find them because they were all supposed to stay together. It had gotten dark again, and her feet hurt, and she was tired, and then the two bright lights had come straight for her and she closed her eyes so she would not see what happened.

When she had opened them again after the loud noise that hurt her ears she had seen the little girl bleeding and it had made her almost remember something, something bad. She had felt the other girl's pain and known she could fix it and so she had, and when she had she had seen lots of things about the girl, about Liz, and it had started to fill up that lonely place inside of her that had formed when she woke up all alone.

Liz still made her feel better, happier, but the place they had taken her to was so loud and bright and different, and sometimes it was too much.

She felt something through a newly formed connection and raised her head, watching silently as the tiny brunette crawled across the carpet to sit next to her, head tilted slightly down so it would not hit the wooden slats above them.

"What's wrong?" the girl asked softly and the blonde, Tess she reminded herself, that was her name now, struggled to find the words.

_'Too loud, too bright,' _she thought, projecting an image of the crowded restaurant below.

Liz reached out and took her hands, smiling gently. "We can stay here as long as you want."

Tess tried to smile back but settled for taking that warm feeling that she got when Liz smiled at her and pushing it through the bond.

Liz's smile brightened and she squeezed Tess's hands before lying down on her stomach next to the other girl. "I'm going to tell you a story like Grandma Claudia does when I'm sick."

Tess hesitated but then laid down next to her, propping her chin on her hands and watching the other girl with large solemn eyes.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess…"

_August 18__th__, 1989_

"You're all set," Philip stated boisterously, smiling as he took the newly signed forms from Jeff's hands and set them in the basket on his desk that contained papers he needed to take to the courthouse. "I'll take them to the same judge that helped Diane and I. If there are any problems I'll let you know but it should go smoothly."

"Thank you Philip," the other man replied gratefully, shaking his hand firmly. "We really appreciate this, we'll have to take you and Diane to dinner sometime to say thank you."

Philip nodded and promised to talk to Diane about setting a date but his next client had arrived so the two Parkers left him to his work.

"Are you sure we should do this?" Nancy asked her husband as they left Philip's office. Their friend had agreed to be their lawyer in representing their decision to foster the little girl; it was something he had experience in after the two children he and his wife had taken in earlier that year.

"Yes Nancy, I don't know what happened that night but that little girl saved Liz's life and she needs a family. Besides, Liz would never forgive us if we took her away now."

"I know, and Liz has been so good with her, trying to teach her to talk and how to get dressed. Who could have treated her so badly that she didn't know how to use a toilet Jeff? What kind of people could do something like that?"

Jeff wrapped an arm around his wife and pulled her close as they walked down the sidewalk to their car. "I don't know but she's safe now and I can't think of anyone better suited to helping her than our Lizzy."

"You're right," Nancy said with a smile, thinking of how happy the two girls had looked when they left, curled up with Jeff's mother Claudia as she told them stories about her adventures. The little blonde had glowed just as much as their own daughter when Claudia had shown up looking for 'her girls.'

Their entire family had welcomed the little girl with open arms when it became clear that no one was going to claim her, and that they were thinking of keeping her.

The tiny blonde had not even known her name so they called her Tess, Liz had picked it out the day after the accident, the first of many gestures that made it clear their daughter had grown attached.

It was in Nancy's nature to worry, it was why her own mother had said she would have an interesting time raising kids, but worries aside the look on Liz's face the first time Tess had said the word sister had almost made her cry. So for then they would foster her and maybe, later, maybe even make her part of their family forever.


	2. Chapter Two: Forming Bonds

_**Chapter Two: Forming Bonds**_

_September 12__th__, 1989_

The tiny girl watched every move her sister made in the mirror, when she finished, Tess reached her hands up to her own blonde curls and separated them into three parts, weaving them seamlessly into an identical braid.

A wisp of blonde hair refused to stay in the braid and settled in the middle of her forehead, tickling her eyes. She blew it up with a frustrated breath and heard the brunette giggle when it fell right back down.

She smiled, still getting used to the sound of laughter, and pointed at her hair. '_Braid?'_

Liz nodded and spoke out loud, carefully enunciating each word. "It's a perfect braid. You did a really good job."

"Thank you," Tess said, her voice soft and shy. She knew that Liz wanted her to try talking out loud more so everyone could hear her instead of just her sister, even though she was not sure she wanted everyone to hear her. But some instinctual part of her knew she needed to fit in and if talking was part of that then she could do it.

Liz grinned and jumped to her feet, grabbing the other girl's hand and pulling her towards the open door of the bedroom they shared. "Come on! Let's go see if daddy will make us a milkshake to share!"

"I like strawberry," the blonde forced herself to say and was glad she had when Liz squeezed her hand encouragingly. Maybe she could get used to the normal thing.

_May 30__th__, 1990_

"Are we ready for this Jeff?" Nancy asked again as she looked up at her husband with worried eyes, remembering a similar question just nine months earlier but unable to stop herself.

"We've had her for almost a year now and I think we have all grown too attached to let her go now. Liz will be so happy when we make this official and she knows we'll never take her sister away."

"You're right; this is the best thing to do," she said, smiling as once again she pushed down her doubts. Tess had not caused any problems, had even less of a temper than Liz who was always an even tempered child.

She had not ever planned on having more than one child, much less one with such a shadowed past, but it was a special circumstance and she did not want to lose her new daughter.

"Yes it is," Jeff declared and kissed his wife's head before leaning down to sign the papers that officially declared the little girl to be Tess Parker, the newest member of their family.

The two girls had become inseparable in the past months and as the authorities had not been able to find any records of her in the system in addition to the Roswell Orphanage being full to capacity, she had been allowed to stay with them indefinitely as a foster child.

When they decided to make her stay permanent the adoption had been pushed through much faster than usual due to the same circumstances, and Philip and Diane's expert help.

Folding the papers he slipped them into the envelope and sealed it, as soon as the county received the documents Tess would legally be theirs. Following Nancy into the living room he smiled as he saw the two girls curled up asleep on the couch, Liz's book of fairytales lying open next to them.

Exchanging affectionate glances, he picked up Tess as Nancy picked up Liz and they carried them into Liz's bedroom. It was a good thing that Liz did not mind sharing as they had no other room to put her new sister in. They only hoped that situation would not cause problems when they were older.

After the girls were tucked in, he and Nancy stood in the doorway and watched their peaceful faces, their small hands linked even in sleep. "I love you," he whispered to his wife, heart swelling with happiness.

She pulled his face down to hers for a lingering kiss, "I love you too Mr. Parker, you are the most caring, intelligent man I know and you make a wonderful father." He blushed and she smirked, tugging on his shirt. "Let's go to bed and I'll show you just how much I appreciate you."

He grinned and pulled her into his arms, laughing at the surprised expression on her face when her feet left the ground. "Sounds good to me Mrs. Parker."

The two little girls listened to the giggles as they disappeared down the hallway and smiled at each other before their eyes drifted closed once more.

_December 25__th__, 1990_

Last Christmas Tess had been too frightened by all the lights and sounds to really enjoy herself, and that year Liz was determined to show her how special her favorite holiday could be. So they had spent the week before making and decorating sheets and sheets of cookies and dozens of homemade ornaments. On Christmas Eve their daddy even got them a gingerbread house kit and they had spent hours pushing peppermints into the frosting on the roof and making little Christmas trees out of gum drops.

On Christmas morning she had gotten up earlier than normal and made Tess a crown out of tinsel, a crown she would wear while she handed out presents. It was a job Liz usually did and loved but that year wanted her sister to have. She crept back into their room and set the crown on Tess's chest so it would be the first thing she saw when she woke up, then she walked over to their window and sat on the sill, watching the Christmas lights twinkle on the balcony, far too excited to go back to sleep.

A little while later a small sound from the bed alerted her and she turned to see Tess's blue eyes glowing happily at her as she picked up the crown and set it crookedly on her blonde curls.

Liz grinned and jumped down to the floor, taking Tess's hand as they walked in silent accord out through the door and to their parent's room. Oh so quietly they opened the door and crawled onto the foot of the bed before standing up again and exchanging devilish smirks.

Then they pounced and the room was filled with shrieks and giggles and one low baritone laugh.

Tess's crown got a little squished but their mom straightened it as best she could and their dad carried her to the living room on his shoulders as Liz and their mom followed like a little parade.

Hours later, after the presents had been handed out and the hot cocoa and cookies had been served for the rare treat of a Christmas breakfast, the two girls curled up with their favorite presents. Liz was writing in a brand new journal from Grandma Claudia and Tess was reading a new big book of fairytales.

_'Merry Christmas Liz,' _the blonde said, resting her chin on the top of the book and Liz looked up at her and grinned.

_Merry Christmas Tess.' _Tess's eyes widened and Liz winked before going back to writing in her journal; _My name is Liz Parker and I'm special just like my sister._

* * *

**A/N:** There are reasons why Liz's changes took longer to manifest than Raelyn's and they will be explained in the third story in this series.


	3. Chapter Three: Family Loyalty

_**Chapter Three: Family Loyalty**_

_May 9__th__, 1991_

Liz watched her new friend Raelyn out of the corner of her eye as the teacher talked. There was something about her that teased the edges of her mind. Not quite like her sister did, but similar. She smiled as her head tilted a little farther to the side and she saw Raelyn's brother Michael also watching his sister, a protective glare on his face as he ignored Kyle who was flicking a paper football onto the other boy's desk.

Maria thought he gave off scary vibes while Tess had been oddly silent on the subject of her new friend and her brother, only saying that they seemed nice but weird when pressed for an answer.

Liz shrugged to herself and turned her attention back to the blackboard where the teacher was writing an equation, she solved it in her head and raised her hand before anyone else, patiently waiting to be called on. She liked Raelyn, and if Michael ever actually spoke to anyone but his sister she was sure she would like him too, that was all that mattered.

Later on the playground during recess she tried to get Tess to follow the other two to the corner where they always sat while the other kids played but her sister resisted. "No Liz, let's go swing, there's two open."

"But I know you'll like Lyn, and Michael can't be that mean if Lyn loves him."

Tess just stubbornly shook her head, blonde curls swaying as she darted a nervous glance at the other two kids and Liz sighed, taking her sister's hand as they skipped towards the swings. Tess still was not sure she liked Maria so she could not be mad at her sister for not wanting to make other new friends.

After all it was not that long ago that she would not talk to anyone but Liz and she only got to see her at recess because the teachers put them in different classes so Liz would not help her sister cheat. She would never do that, but sometimes adults were silly.

So as their legs started pumping to propel them through the air, Liz pushed all thoughts of her redheaded friend out of her mind and grinned at her sister. _'Bet I can go higher than you!'_

Tess just stuck her tongue out, blue eyes sparkling as their laughter filled the air. _'Bet you can't!' _

_August 20__th__, 1991_

"I wonder if we made the right decision to not introduce Tess and Liz to the Evans' kids last year after Tess was ready to go to school," Jeff stated concernedly, a line appearing between his eyebrows as they watched the two girls swing at the park. Tess had bonded well with Liz and was doing well in school, but she did not seem to make any friends of her own, and it had taken quite a while for her to warm up to Maria. "Maybe they would have connected."

"Diane didn't think her kids were ready, said they were both too shy and she didn't think meeting another child who had such an obviously traumatic past would help. She seems pretty determined to do everything for them on her own," Nancy replied, lacing her fingers through his where they rested on the bench between them.

He looked down at their entwined hands and smiled, remembering how nervous he was the first time he asked her out. "I think we were lucky that we already had Liz, she's been wonderful with Tess and we're both a little more relaxed now that we've already had one."

He chuckled, Nancy may have been a worrier, but Diane, while she had a heart of gold, was definitely all about plans and plans for the plans.

"Very true," his wife said, favoring him with a light kiss, "And it's not like the kids won't meet eventually once she starts them in public school. As for Tess I'm sure she will start to make more friends, Liz isn't shy and she's more than capable of 'encouraging' her sister to be more social."

Jeff almost snorted, "More than capable, I think Liz got all of Mom's stubbornness.

"None of it came from you, of course," Nancy said dryly, glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes before returning her gaze to the two girls.

"Of course not!" he exclaimed in mock affront, "Me stubborn?"

The discussion might have continued from there but the two girls had grown tired of swinging and came running up to them, Liz latching onto Jeff's legs while Tess hovered just behind her. "Can we go to the library daddy? The new science book and Tess's fairytales are supposed to be in today."

"Of course we can," Jeff said with a smile at both of his daughters, still pleased beyond measure that both seemed to have an academic bent even at that age.

Standing up he took both of their hands and followed Nancy towards the car, swinging them into the air with each step and trying to hide the wince at the strain on his shoulders. There were not too many months left where he would be able to do things like that and he planned to enjoy them.

_October 17__th__, 1992_

At first Liz had been Tess's teacher, showing her how to read and how to figure sums, perfecting her handwriting and all of the other things the brunette girl loved to do like riding her bicycle, and coaxing baskets of french fries out of the cook Jose, even swimming at their new friend Alex's house.

It was Liz's instruction that had allowed Tess to enter second grade with her sister instead of having to stay a year behind, something that amazed and delighted their parents.

Then Tess became the teacher, just a year later Liz had begun to develop more active abilities just like her sister, and while their parents knew there was something different about the little girl they had found in the middle of the road, neither of the girls thought it would be a good idea for them to know just how different.

So they kept the powers a secret, and Liz proved to be just as apt a student as Tess had. She learned how to fix the plate they broke while sneaking food out of the refrigerator, and she learned how to control the extremely strong bursts of telekinetic energy that sent their deck chairs floating over their heads. That one had been hard to hide.

Luckily it had been summer when all of that had happened, so they were home rather than in classes, both girls had long ago realized the dangers of anyone discovering their secret.

And at that moment, months later, both of them were becoming students again; they were nine-years-old as Liz had decided to share her birthday with Tess, and their parents had finally agreed to let them start working at the Crashdown. It was just a couple of hours a day, and not every day at that, but the two of them were so excited that they did not care.

Dad had been forced to order specially made uniforms for them because they were both so small and after changing into them they had both collapsed into helpless giggles on the floor of their bedroom.

"The antennae, they're just sooo..." Tess gasped out, her blonde curls bouncing as she laughed.

"I know!" Liz replied, as her chocolate eyes danced with merriment. "If dad knew you were really an alien he would burn these."

Tess grinned a little evilly "I'm not the only one, you're half alien now too missy and I think green is totally your color."

The brunette gasped in mock horror. "You take that back Tessie, I'm not half anything, I'm all super-powered-human-alien-girl."

"Whatever," was all the blonde said before their eyes met and they collapsed into each other's arms, giggling again.

That was how Jeff found them five minutes later. Folding his arms in front of him, he tried to maintain a stern expression even as his lips twitched with the effort of hiding his smile. The two girls turned and tried to straighten their uniforms, smiling innocently up at him.

"Hi dad!" Liz chirped, taking Tess's hand with her own. "We're ready for our first day!"

Finally releasing his smile, he grinned down at them. "Good, it's time to introduce you to the glamorous life of the restaurant business."

Tess just laughed while Liz rolled her eyes. "Sure dad, green antennae are the height of fashion."

"Hey now, the customers love the theme, including the uniforms."

"They love the short skirts," Tess muttered under her breath, eliciting a stifled giggle from Liz and a paternal glare from Jeff.

"Come on you two, it's time to work; and no smart mouthing the customers!" he said firmly, wrapping his arms around their shoulders and steering them down the hallway towards the stairs.

They both giggled and he smiled, his heart swelling with pride at the thought of his girls working in the family restaurant; he never thought his life would turn out so well.

* * *

**A/N:** So I'm referencing Alex as their friend earlier then he is stated to becoming their friend in canon, only by a year but thought I'd mention it in case anyone else has an obsessively mapped out Roswell timeline like I do :-D


	4. Chapter Four: Deja Vu

_**Chapter Four: Déjà vu**_

_January 4__th__, 1993_

Her friend Raelyn had been ignoring her ever since those two Evans kids started school and while it hurt Liz's feelings, she felt like there was something more going on than just Lyn not wanting to be her friend anymore. Tess on the other hand was thrilled because it meant even less chances of her being forced to hang out with anyone but Liz.

Even Maria seemed happy about it, as it had been hard on her best friend when Tess became Liz's sister. One less person competing for the brunette's attention, especially with the addition of Alex to their little group, made the energetic blonde even bubblier than usual.

She had tried talking to Lyn a couple of times, but it was hard to be friends with someone who would not talk back, and her new blonde friend, Isabel, always glared at Liz from the other side of the playground if she caught her watching them.

Maria poked her in the side and she jumped, startled out of her thoughts. "Come on Lizzy, it's your turn on the slide!"

Liz shoved away all thoughts of Lyn and Isabel and climbed the metal ladder to the top of the slide, squealing all the way down until she collapsed in the gravel next to Tess who had gone right before her. They looked at each other and giggled until suddenly another body landed on top of them.

"Alex!" they both yelled indignantly.

The boy in question scrambled off of them, apologizing profusely, until they could not hold their laughter in any longer. "It's okay Alex," Liz said between giggles as he pulled her and Tess to their feet. "We know you didn't mean to."

"I'd never hurt my best girls!" he exclaimed, wrapping his arms around them before pausing with a considering look on his face. "Well, never on purpose anyways."

Tess giggled again and Liz reached in to tickle his side when Maria came running up to them, face red and steam almost visible by her ears.

"Tommy just tried to look up my skirt!"

The four children exchanged glances before turning as one unit to face the tow-headed boy currently laughing with Brad by the slide. Tommy noticed their regard and paled.

None of them were particularly intimidating on their own, but you put them together and they could do damage with sheer numbers. And everyone knew that Liz and her sister were two scary little girls when they wanted to be, as had been proven when Tess first started school and bullies were quickly taught to ignore the seemingly shy blonde.

A few moments later he was saved by the bell ringing to end recess, but he had a feeling it was only a matter of time before they found a way to make him pay.

_January 5__th__, 1993_

Tommy was on occasion smarter than he was given credit for and his feeling the day before had been spot on. Unfortunately he was not smart enough to avoid doing stupid things in the first place, nor to avoid his punishment.

So when Tess and Liz 'accidentally' bumped into him in the cafeteria he should have known something was up. But instead he just walked away quickly, until the fact that almost all of the other children were staring at him and starting to laugh penetrated his thick skull, and he felt the strange wetness on the front and back of his pants.

Liz and Tess high-fived once they were safely in the hallway and Maria squealed excitedly. "You rock chicas! Where did you hide the water?"

The sisters exchanged a glance before giving her and Alex matching enigmatic smiles. "Trade secret Ria."

Maria pouted and Alex seemed suspicious, but it was quickly forgotten in the face of the dual excitement of hearing Tommy called Peepee Pants for the rest of the day, and talking about Maria's upcoming birthday.

Plans were made for a sleepover at Alex's house, since he was the only one with a TV in his room and all of the parents were still of the mindset that they were too young to really think about the differences between boys and girls.

That was not completely accurate, but the girls did not feel the need to explain that to their parents and Alex was mostly oblivious. So the rest of their lunch was spent plotting activities and debating movie choices.

Liz and Tess's, and by association Alex and Maria's, reputation as not safe to be messed with was cemented by that day's events and at least for that year the schoolyard bullies were forced to find other targets such as the Guerin boy and his sister and the weird new kids, the Evans.

_October 31__st__, 1993_

Liz, Tess, and Maria, were dressed as Nancy Drew and her friends Bess and George respectively, complete with magnifying glasses, notepads, and a fingerprint dusting kit each. They were pretending to investigate a bush at the side of the playground that they had heard mysterious noises coming from, and were talking in stage whispers frequently interrupted by giggles.

Suddenly a green figure that look suspiciously like Alex burst out of the bush and waved his arms at them while wailing in an 'alien' language. The girls shrieked and Kyle, who had been loitering nearby, came dashing over with one hand on his fake pistol and the other on his cowboy hat.

"I'll save you girls!"

Alex the alien turned tail and ran at that brave declaration and Kyle pelted after him after tipping his hat at the three pint sized detectives.

Tess pulled the disposable camera Mom had given her out of her bag and snapped a picture of the two boys before they were too far gone, the other two girls giggling like mad behind her.

After that all three squeezed together and took a picture of themselves, grinning happily. Last year, they had not been able to find three matching costumes that all three could agree on, but Tess had discovered Nancy Drew a few months ago in her never ending quest for books, and both Liz and Maria had enjoyed them too.

"This is the best Halloween ever! We're going to get so much candy!" Maria exclaimed just as the boys reappeared.

"Candy?" Kyle asked, cowboy hat held crumpled in his hand while Alex was doubled over panting. "Do you know what route we got? Dad has a huge stash at the police station."

The girls shook their head and Alex straightened, pulling a plastic green 'laser' gun out of his waistband. "Never fear, I'll threaten them with probing and they'll give us all their goodies!"

Kyle rolled his eyes, "Whatever Whitman. If you're one of the aliens I don't think Earth has anything to worry about."

Maria laughed while Liz and Tess exchanged smirks; if only they knew.


	5. Chapter Five: Don't Speak

**A/N: **Tissue alert. Short but painful chapter ahead.

* * *

_**Chapter Five: Don't Speak**_

_April 2__nd__, 1994_

Liz and Tess were at lunch when the sheriff came into the cafeteria. At first they thought that he was there to see Kyle, but after giving his son an acknowledging nod he approached their table and looked down at them with a sober face that sent goose bumps racing in tandem down their arms.

"I need you to come with me girls, bring your bags," he said in his low rumbly voice, and fear almost overwhelmed their bond. They stood up in unison, leaving their trays on the table, and followed him out of the suddenly eerily silent room.

The ride to the Hospital was quiet, both of them too afraid to ask what was happening in hopes that none of it was real. They heard their father yelling before they even got all of the way through the doors, and squeezed each other's hands for comfort as they followed the sheriff down the hallway.

Their dad was yelling furiously at a doctor, tears streaking down his cheeks, as a sheet covered gurney was rolled away by a nurse. Sudden realization struck both girls and then they were running, dodging the sheriff's grasping hands, and sprinting past their father who fell silent when he saw them run past, eyes widening in shock.

Tess reached the gurney first and ripped the sheet off, revealing their mother's cold and staring body. Liz screamed, falling to her knees on the shiny linoleum as Tess desperately grasped their mother's hand and tried to focus.

Liz fed her power through their bond but it was not enough, they were too late, and soon Tess was the one screaming and sobbing as the Nurse tried to pry her hands off Nancy's arm and the blonde struggled wildly. This could not be happening, she could save her, she could!

Then her sister was there, wrapping her arms around her and pouring her shared grief into their connection and the two girls dropped like puppets who had had their strings cut, no longer screaming as they curled around each other on the floor, tears streaming unchecked down their faces.

Jeff had collapsed weakly against a wall; eyes unseeing as they drank in the still, blood covered form of his wife, and replaced it with the happy smiling woman he had seen that morning.

All three Parker's knew in the depths of their souls, nothing would ever be okay again.

_April 9__th__, 1994_

The air was warm as it caressed their skin, smelling of spring in the desert. The grass was obscenely green and contrasted sharply with the dark brown dirt of the open grave, and the pale white of the marble headstone. The distant sound of passing cars could he heard, unhindered by the hush of the cemetery.

Despite the sea of people dressed in black, the day was too bright, too loud, too everything, and the two little girls wanted nothing more than to run back home, and crawl into their mother's bed, and pretend that this day had not come.

Their father was incapacitated by his grief and had provided little comfort to the two of them, sunken too deeply into his own pain to be able to handle theirs. In essence they had lost two parents that horrible day and the world had gotten bleaker ever since.

The day after the accident Grandma Claudia had shown up, and Aunt Rachel had come the day after that, but the girls had retreated inside themselves and spoke to no one but each other, and even that was silent communication that no one else could penetrate.

To them the world had stopped seven days ago when they felt a gaping empty hole where their mother's spirit used to be and knew they would never feel the special warmth of her aura again.

Their father's pain beat against their shields, threatening to merge with their own and send them spiraling into an abyss they would never recover from, and so they had locked everyone else out, living inside each other's heads and existing in a world without words.

The funeral proceeded agonizing second by agonizing second and the only two adults in the family still capable of speech wisely forewent the reception line. Instead they ushered the two girls into the car after letting Alex and Maria hug them with no response, and took them back home.

Later that night the sisters briefly came back to awareness long enough to hear their Grandmother and their Aunt yelling at their father, words like 'selfish', 'the girls need you', and 'can't go on like this', wafting up the stairs.

The words and emotions hurt and so they disappeared back into their shells, brown eyes locking with blue as the tides of pain and grief and guilt carried them away.

Why was everything so wrong?

_April 23__rd__, 1994_

At first they did not understand why their bags were being packed, clothes and pictures and schoolbooks all neatly ordered into suitcases. But after the luggage had been loaded in the trunk and their father had come downstairs and hugged them close, whispering "I'm so sorry," in their ears before disappearing again, they knew they were being sent away.

For a moment they felt a surge of anger and almost opened their mouths to speak, to yell and scream and demand to stay here with their father and their friends and all the memories of their mother. But being angry took energy, and they had been quiet too long to break their silence so easily.

So they did not resist as they were bundled into Aunt Rachel's car, or when Grandma Claudia pressed a kiss to both of their foreheads and watched them drive away with sad, determined eyes. They did not speak once on the long drive to Florida, not when they stopped for food or gas, or to spend the night in motels.

The first time they reacted at all was when their Aunt showed them that she had set up a room for each of them, and then they clung to each other and refused to be separated, finally curling up on the bed in what was supposed to be Tess's room and refusing to come to dinner.

They were not ready for the world to start again.

* * *

**A/N: **A note on character reactions in this chapter. I know some people will probably disagree with how Jeff reacted and how certain things were handled. I am not in any way condoning the way characters acted this chapter, this is merely one possible representation of grief and in no way should be seen as worse or better than any other way. Also just to clarify something that I couldn't work in from the girl's perspective, Nancy died in a car accident.


	6. Chapter Six: Growing Up

**A/N: **Don't worry they will go back to Roswell, as Edge of Shadows indicated, and we will still see glimpses of Maria and Alex and possibly Kyle before they do return.

* * *

_**Chapter Six: Growing Up**_

_July 6__th__, 1995_

Their first full year at their new school in Florida was over and a long summer stretched before them, the first summer they would be able to truly appreciate as the last had passed in a haze of grief they still shied away from remembering. They even planned on trying separate rooms, a step forward that they were not sure of still, but had decided fit with their attempt to be normal.

They were old enough that Aunt Rachel had let them buy two piece bathing suits instead of their usual one piece that summer, and they were dying to show them off. They had been bugging her all the past week and finally she'd agreed to take a day off and drive them to her favorite beach, one popular with the locals, but mostly unknown to the tourists.

The two girls slathered on their new coconut scented sunscreen and admired each others' tankinis, red for Liz and royal blue for Tess, with matching wraps. "I love being a girl," Tess said with a happy sigh as she collapsed on their bed and slipped on her flip flops.

Liz giggled and threw a towel at her sister. "I remember when you hated pink and liked playing with bugs."

Tess glared at her and fixed her hair with an offended huff. "Whatever miss I spent two hours last night painting pink daisies on my toenails."

The brunette flushed and threw up her hands. "Truce!"

Her sister smirked triumphantly but then jumped to her feet and pulled Liz in for a hug, squealing in girlish glee. "I love Florida!"

There was a heavily silent pause before the other girl replied in a slightly shaky voice. "Me too."

"Maybe we shouldn't go," Tess said suddenly, guilt and sadness lacing her voice and Liz hugged her tighter, then pulled away and gave her a gentle shake.

"No, it's okay for us to be happy Tess. Mom," here she had to pause to get control of her voice, "Mom wouldn't want us to be sad all the time."

"I know, but it's…" The blonde trailed off and finished her thought with a burst of emotion rather than words, sending both girls back into a tight hug as they blinked back tears.

They eventually separated, and went to the beach, and had a great time, but every now and then they would stop, exchange a look, and remember.

_November 18__th__, 1995_

Sleeping in separate rooms that summer had lasted a week before the two girls decided that they did not care that they were too old to share a room, and by all rights should hate each other if stuck in the same space. They were closer than the average sisters, had a bond that could not be explained, at least not to anyone but each other, and so it was back to one room much to Aunt Rachel's bemusement.

In the end it turned out to be a good thing as one week before school started, Aunt Rachel's son Nick showed up, claiming that he could not handle one more year of military school. His father was currently assigned out of the country and so the two girls ended up seeing their cousin for more than a day for the first time since they were eight years old.

Sadly the sister bond did not extend to other family members and it was loathing at first sight on both sides. Which lead to the argument currently echoing through their Aunt's beach-house.

"Give it back Nick!" Tess shrieked, rage blazing from her normally smiling blue eyes.

"Aww but Tessie, I want to read the fairytales too. Still dreaming of prince charming?" Nick mocked, dangling Tess's favorite book over her head.

"Give it back or you will regret it," she grit out from behind clenched teeth, hands clenched into fists.

"I'm sure I will," he said patronizingly and the blonde smirked, a vicious twinkle replacing the rage in her eyes.

Nick suddenly fell to the hardwood floor as a well placed kick from behind knocked his legs out from under him. The book was snatched from his hand by Tess as Liz dumped a bucket of ice water over his head, before leaning down to whisper in his ear, "You might be bigger than us cuz, but you're definitely not smarter."

She sauntered around him to join her sister and they linked arms, smiling benignly at the sandy haired boy before turning to leave. He staggered to his feet and started after them, face dark with anger, before he suddenly slipped on the water and landed painfully on his tailbone.

The girls did not turn around, but giggled and bumped hips triumphantly before sprinting for their room and locking their door behind them.

"Boys are stupid," Tess muttered and Liz laughed, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Not all boys, I know one particular bad-boy you're rather fond of," she commented with a smirk, sending her sister an image of one of their classmates.

"Shut up," the other girl grumbled before lovingly waving her hand over her rescued book to remove Nick's fingerprints, and slipping it under their mattress. They heard another thud and a curse from the hallway and grinned at each other. "Okay, not all boys are stupid, but cousins? All dumb as a post."

"That, I'll agree with," Liz replied with a wink and they both settled in to do their homework without further interruption, until Liz started silently singing _'Logan and Tess, sitting in a tree.'_ That started a pillow fight that lasted until dinner time and involved stunts that would have outed them as not exactly normal if witnessed.

Just another average day in the Parker-Harris house.

_June 21__st__, 1996_

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Alex, happy birthday to you!" the girls sung in to the phone as soon as it was picked up, grinning widely, and a little wistfully, at each other.

"It's my favorite girls!" Alex exclaimed, and an offended "Hey!" could be heard in the background. "My favorite out of town girls," he amended hastily.

"Hi Maria!" Liz called as Tess rolled her eyes affectionately.

"Hey my long lost best friend! When do you we get to see you again?"

"Well, that's actually why I'm calling," Liz said nonchalantly, and then giggled as sudden high pitched squealing came over the line.

"Don't tell me you're coming home chica!"

"No Maria, we're not coming home," Tess said softly into the speaker when it became clear that her sister had frozen at the question. "But Aunt Rachel said we could fly you two out here. If you guys want to come?"

Brief sounds of a struggle could be heard and then Alex came back on. "Hey Tess, we would love to come, this is the best birthday present ever!"

"We can't wait to see you, we miss you guys," Liz replied, recovered from her momentary depression. "When Aunt Rachel gets home, we will call you with the flight details."

"I miss you too Lizzy, and you Tessie," Alex said, and then chuckled "I know you're glaring at the phone Tess, it's my birthday, you've got to let me get away with the dreaded nickname."

"Fine," she muttered in response, "Just not while you're here! The last thing we need is Nick getting any ideas."

"Right, the evil cousin," Alex commented, clearly holding in his laughter, and Tess huffed again.

"Tess is right, he is evil," Liz interjected, wrapping a commiserating arm around her sister and nodding at the phone, then making a face at herself while Tess giggled.

"My dad is calling," Alex said reluctantly, "Talk to you tonight?"

"Yes and then we will see you soon!" she replied and then both girls chimed in with one last "Happy Birthday Alex!"

He said goodbye and Liz set the phone back in the cradle, still smiling slightly before her sister's thoughts made her remember Maria's comment.

_'Are we ever going to go home?'_

'_I hope so Tess, I really hope so.'_

* * *

**A/N: **Just in case it confuses anybody Harris is their Aunt's last name, oh and they were on speaker phone in the last scene ;-)


	7. Chapter Seven: Time Heals

_**Chapter Seven: Time Heals**_

_August 10__th__, 1997_

"Why did you bring him?" Tess asked Alex quizzically, staring at their third and completely unexpected guest for the week as Liz and Maria hugged ecstatically.

"His dad's been dating Maria's mom and they wanted some alone time. It was this or football camp, and apparently, he decided that there was a better chance of girls here."

Tess frowned at that, but did not make another comment, instead turning to hug Maria as Liz tackled Alex.

Later, once all the bags were loaded in the car, and they were headed back towards their Aunt's beach house, Liz leaned over and whispered in Alex's ear. "I suggest you claim the couch as soon as we get there, that way Kyle's stuck in Nick's room, not you."

"You always got my back Lizzy."

"Of course!" she replied with a grin, giving him a one-armed hug as the car pulled into the driveway.

Per her advice, the moment they were inside, Alex tossed his bag on the couch and stretched himself out over it, taking full advantage of his lanky frame. "I call the couch."

Kyle looked unimpressed until the girls' aunt directed him down the hall to put his stuff in Nick's room, and then he did his best version of a man pout, causing all four of the other teens to crack up.

When he returned, he dropped into a recliner and groaned, "Damn you and your scheming ways Whitman." Alex just grinned and the other boy rolled his eyes, then tilted his head so he was looking at Liz and asked, "So Pa…Liz, when are we hitting the beach?" with his best charming smile.

She raised an eyebrow and smiled back at him, batting her eyelashes with false flirtatiousness. "Why whenever you want Va…Kyle. It's right out the backdoor and two hundred yards that-a-way."

The other three snickered and Kyle sunk a little deeper into the chair. "I am just not feeling the love in this room."

Maria rolled her eyes, "I wonder why that is my non-brother, could it be that you invited yourself on our vacation without so much as a please?"

In response he fell to his knees in front of the chair and held his arms out wide. "I humbly beg forgiveness my not yet-sister and her friends, please forgive this poor jock for not wanting to spend three weeks surrounded by spitting, sweating, grunting, men, instead of beautiful girls in bikinis."

Maria did not seem impressed, but Liz and Tess both giggled, and Liz waved her hand at him magnanimously, "We forgive you Kyle, get up, you can come to the beach with us later."

"Yes!" he said with a fist pump as he climbed back into the recliner and the other four exchanged glances that were half-exasperation and half-grudging amusement. What really mattered was that they were together, and no unexpected guest or unwelcome family members were going to ruin their vacation.

For the reunited best friends all they really needed was the time spent together.

_January 30__th__, 1998_

"I have a surprise for you," Aunt Rachel said as she appeared in their bedroom doorway. Something in her voice clued the girls in that it was not necessarily a happy surprise and they stood reluctantly after exchanging worried glances.

They followed her to the living room, Tess right behind Liz, until her sister stopped dead at the end of the hallway, Tess almost colliding with her suddenly stiff back.

"Daddy?"

Jeff was sitting on the couch, eyes dark with unnamed emotion, and neither girl knew how to react.

They had seen their father only three times since their mother died, with a handful of phone calls thrown in for good measure, so seeing him there definitely qualified as a surprise, and both girls felt their hearts sink into their stomachs as they prepared themselves for bad news.

Instead of speaking though, their father stood and pulled them both into his arms. They were a little resistant at first, but five years of sporadic contact with the only parent they had left soon had them melting into him as all three dissolved into tears and hugged each other fiercely.

It was everything they had been missing and slowly the dread began to fade.

"After you're done with school this year, would you like to come home?" he asked them once he could speak again, by then sitting on the floor with both girls leaning against him, Aunt Rachel having long since disappeared to give them some privacy.

"A...Are you sure?" Liz asked, voice still watery as she grasped her sister's hand with desperate need.

"I'm very sure and I am so sorry that it took me this long to ask. I love you both so much and I can't wait to see you every day. I know it won't make up for lost time but,"

Before he could finish his self-recriminatory statement, the two of them wrapped their arms around him and squeezed tightly, "It's okay, dad, we understand, we love you too and we want to come home," Tess said with a warm smile, tilting her chin up to look at him as Liz nodded her agreement, happy tears glistening in her eyes.

They were going to be a family again.

_May 14__th__, 1998_

Liz sighed and stretched, then stood and abandoned Tess and their history homework to go in search of a snack. She stopped at the edge of kitchen in surprise when she saw Nick sitting the counter, head buried in his arms and shoulders stiff with tension. Anger and sadness were coming off him waves she did not even need her extra senses to detect.

For a moment she hesitated, but in the end the fact that he was family won out over lingering resentment. Scuffing her heels as she approached so that he wouldn'tt be surprised, she entered the kitchen and leant on the counter across from him.

"You okay, Nick?"

He did not react at first, but when she stayed there and did not move away, he raised his head, revealing red eyes and a pinched expression. "What do you care Lizzy? I'm the evil cousin remember?"

Liz did not back down, instead meeting his gaze fearlessly and quirking an eyebrow. "You haven't made an effort to be anything else Nick, and we do care."

He studied her silently for a moment, and then sighed and rubbed his forehead in an attempt to compose himself. "My dad is going to be back in the states next year, but he's made it clear that I'm not welcome at his house and if I show up he's shipping me back to military school."

"I'm sorry," she said softly, wishing she could make some sort of empathizing comment, but knowing it would not be received as she intended since her own father was welcoming her and her sister home again in just a couple months.

"With you guys going back home, Mom wanted to go on a dig this year…" he trailed off and she could tell that he did not want to ask his mom to stay, just for him, but also could not stomach the thought of going back to military school.

Staying quiet she reached out for her sister, _'Tess? I need to show you something.' _

Tess watched the replay of their conversation and then sighed, _'You're going to invite him to Roswell aren't you, Miss Bleeding Heart?' _Liz was conspicuously silent and she sighed again. _'Okay, go ahead, let's bring Nicky to the alien capital and see how he fares.' _She snickered, _'We'll have dad make him a cook.'_

Liz chuckled at the thought too, albeit silently, then reached out and lightly touched her cousins arm. "Why don't you come to Roswell with us? You can enroll there, and at the end of the year either stay, or come back here once your mom is back from her dig."

He stared at her in shock, disbelief evident in every line of his body. "Are you serious?"

She shrugged and repressed a full-blown grin. "I'm serious, it's not exactly the big city you're used to, but it's got to better than military school."

"You got that right," he muttered with a snort, running his hands through his sandy blond hair and then dropping them on the counter with a sigh. "Okay, let's do it, Roswell here we come."


	8. Chapter Eight: Home At Last

_**Chapter Eight: Home At Last**_

_September 4__th__, 1998_

Nick collapsed on the couch, pulled off his grease-stained apron, and groaned, "Military school would have been better than this."

The two girls exchanged amused glances, Tess rolling her eyes as Liz commented, "You're a wuss, Nick."

"Just how bad is military school?" Alex asked before Nick could reply as he and Maria appeared in the back room, Alex joining the other boy on the couch while Maria moved to her locker to get her order pad.

"Dad offering again?" Liz queried as she leaned tiredly against the couch arm, grateful that her and Tess's shift was over.

"He and Mom will be gone even more this year, and he doesn't really mind the computer stuff, but I know he wishes that I was a little more manly," the lanky boy replied despondently, rolling his head on the back of the couch so he could see her face.

Tess smacked the back of Nick's head when he opened his mouth to make a sarcastic comment and Liz squeezed Alex's shoulder encouragingly. "You're plenty manly Alex, and we would go crazy without you."

"Besides with Nick as an example, I really think you should reconsider the 'manly' benefits of military school," Tess said dryly.

Liz and Alex snorted while Nick glared at his cousin before turning a charming smile onto Maria, who had turned around and was tying on her apron. "You think I turned out well don't you, Maria?"

The blonde in question sauntered over and leaned down next him with a flirty smile. Nick's grin grew wider until, "In your dreams Nicky boy."

He huffed and folded his arms over his chest as Maria high-fived Tess and then disappeared through the swinging doors into the front of the diner. Alex chuckled, "I think I'll stay right here in Roswell with my girls."

Liz gave him a one-armed hug of approval before she and Tess slipped up the stairs to change into regular clothes, leaving the two boys staring silently at each other. After a moment Nick rolled his eyes and stood, his apron balled up in his hand, and stalked towards the stairs.

"Been fun!" Alex called after him with a sarcastic grin, and then chuckled as he heard the apartment door slam. "Yeah, I'm the stud."

_November 19__th__, 1998_

Their first year of high school was in full swing, and other than fending off questions about their five-year disappearance, things did not seem that much different than junior high. They both missed the beach occasionally, but having their friends, and their father, back was more than worth that loss.

Neither girl were what you would call popular, but neither were they outcasts, instead they existed in that strange limbo between. Mostly they hung out only with each other, Maria, and Alex, although Liz had joined the science club much to Tess's disgust.

They were cordial with their cousin, but Nick largely avoided them, becoming one of those ever present 'bad boy' loners that every school has a few of. Girls had stopped asking the two for his phone number and information after the sixth time Tess laughed in one cheerleader's face until she walked away red faced.

All in all, it was your average high school experience, and to all appearances, they were your average teenagers. Except that they were not average, and they knew it.

Ever since they had returned to Roswell, they had felt something different, some energy in the air that had not been present in Florida. They did not know if it had been there before they left, and they had been too lost in grief those first months to have noticed any other changes, but it worried them.

Luckily, their constant state of tension had been attributed to being back in Roswell, in their house, after so long, and the fresh reminders that their mother was not there. Something that had proven harder to deal with than they expected. They had thought that the worst of their grief had run its course, but seeing their house, all the little homey touches that their father had not been able to get rid of, had brought it all rushing to the surface again and the two girls had spent more than one night crying themselves to sleep since being back.

Combine the two stresses and it led them to revel in every bit of normalcy they could find.

"He totally wants you, chica," Maria exclaimed, her arms waving wildly as Liz tried to hush her. "I am telling you, that is not normal lab partner behavior."

"You might be right Maria, but I think Liz here has a crush on someone else," Tess interjected with a wide grin as she nudged her sister's side.

Liz's mouth opened and closed a few times before she clapped her hands on the table. "I am declaring a moratorium on all discussions about my love life. I haven't heard a word about either of your possible romances and until I do this conversation is over."

"Oooh, you hit pay dirt Tess! Tell me who it is! Is it that football player Ms. Hardy is making her tutor? Or the head of the science club? He's cute in a kind of nerdy way, not as hot as Max of course."

Liz groaned and dropped her head onto the table as Tess continued mercilessly. "I don't know his name, but he's in her Spanish and maybe her AP English class, she's always smiling a little too much right before those periods."

"I like AP English," Liz protested without raising her head, but Tess just smirked knowingly.

"Yes you do, but I know you don't like Spanish class and I've seen the same tall spiky head slouching into both, usually right before you say you don't want to be late and head into class yourself."

"Oh you've got it bad girly!" Maria squealed, before scrunching her face in thought. "Wait, spiky hair, not Michael Guerin! He's like, almost as bad as Nick," she stated with a grimace. "His sister's nice though, weren't you friends with her back in elementary school?"

Liz sighed and propped her chin on her hands. "I think so, Raelyn." She shrugged. "And you're crazy Tess, I'll grant you that Michael is smarter than he looks, but I'm not interested in _anyone_ right now. Not Max, not Michael, not Brad, and not Dustin from Science Club."

Tess did not reply, just kept grinning at her while Maria started rating each guy on their respective hotness. The bell rang and she jumped to her feet so fast she almost tripped over the bench they were sitting on, her sister's laughter following her all the way into the school.

_December 27__th__, 1998_

The landscape was familiar; the same bluish brown earth and strange white plants. The large round building made from a pale mottled stone was also familiar, as were the three individuals standing outside of it. Their eyes were dark and fathomless, stunning in contrast with their warm golden skin, and vaguely disturbing in their uniform lack of pupils. Their hair was pale like the plants and the strands were thicker than human hair, but strangely beautiful, leaving one with the desire to stroke it to see if it was as soft as it appeared. Their faces, similar to the ones she saw everyday excepting the lack of ears, were soft with smiles.

Their language was like nothing on Earth, filled with sibilant tones and cadences never produced by a human tongue. Despite that fact, she understood them perfectly. Two of them were siblings, twin boy and girl. The third was a friend, one who had been raised with them and was a brother in all but blood.

"We leave tomorrow; I believe all is in readiness except for Vilondra's packing," the male half of the twins, Zan, said teasingly and the girl huffed, fluffing her hair with her long delicate fingers.

"Mother insisted that I pack all of my gowns. We're not going to have any chance for fun with the constant round of conferences and balls they have planned."

"It is for a good cause Lonnie," the third young man, Rath, said soothingly. "The people of Darrgeos need to see that we are their allies so this tension can be put to rest."

"Do you really think that war is a possibility?" she asked softly, seating herself on one of the curved stone benches and looking up at both boys worriedly.

"I hope not sister, I truly hope not. We must do everything we can to prevent it…" Zan stated after a moment's pause.

"And prepare in case we can not," Rath finished for him, the truth of his words causing all of them to fall silent. Both boys sat on the bench, one on either side of her in comfort, and the last thing Liz saw before the image faded away was Vilondra resting her head on her brother's shoulder, her dark eyes sad and fearful.

Opening her eyes, Liz stared at the ceiling, her bedroom feeling less real than the scene she had just witnessed. That one been more vivid that the first two dreams.

Once she had collected herself she sat up and turned her head to see Tess staring at her from her own bed. "You had another one," her sister stated flatly, her blue eyes clearly expressing her disquiet.

Liz nodded and swung the covers off her legs, standing so that she could pace between the two twin beds their father had put in place of their old queen. "I wish we knew what they meant. They feel so real but…" she paused, analyzing everything she had seen and felt during the dream. "They don't feel like they're happening now. I think it's something that's already happened, but when, or where?" She shrugged helplessly. "I just don't know."

Tess stood up too and laced their fingers together, her eyes dark with determination. "We'll figure it out Liz, we will. I promise"


	9. Chapter Nine: New Discoveries

**A/N: **I am so sorry for the long wait on this and all my other stories, life's been crazy, but I'm back now and I'll be updating everything else soon too. Also, today you get two chapters for the price of one!

* * *

_**Chapter Nine: New Discoveries**_

_January 18__th__, 1999_

Liz walked back to her desk after dropping off the last paper, still not quite sure what had possessed her to put that note on Michael's. She had known that he was doing well enough to stay in the AP class, where the teacher was notorious for bumping students he did not feel belonged, but seeing the A, along with the teacher's note of praise, on such a subjective paper had been a surprise.

His paper had been on the top of the pile the teacher had dropped in front of her, and when she scanned the first sentence and saw his topic of choice, the character of Touchstone, she could not resist commenting on his obvious intelligence, such a contrast to the rebellious apathy he usually displayed.

She had seen a brief flash of surprise in his dark eyes when she handed it to him, the yellow sticky note she had attached suddenly seeming glaringly obvious, and she had hurried on before he could say anything, assuming he wanted to say anything. What had she been thinking?

Well she would not be sharing that little moment with Tess. Her sister was not nearly as vocal as Maria, but she had let slip enough comments and glances that Liz knew she had not given up on the crazy idea of Liz harboring a secret crush on Michael.

Glancing over her shoulder as she sat down she saw Michael holding her note with the faintest hint of a smile on his face.

She felt her own face grow warm and turned back to the front of the class, happy that the teacher had begun his lecture for the day, and that she could lose herself in thoughts of symbolism and love as a concept, rather than an actual possibility. She was _not _interested in Michael Guerin.

_February 5__th__, 1999_

The three familiar figures were standing in a ballroom in the Royal Palace of Darrgeos. Their clothes were rich and formal, vibrant colors that more than made up for the paleness of their surroundings.

Two of the natives were approaching them, a tall man and a younger woman. The two Darrgeons had darker skin than the three she was used to seeing, burnished bronze versus soft gold, but the pale hair and large eyes were the same.

"I'd like to introduce you three to my younger sister, Avallin. Your rooms connect to hers Lady Vilondra, and there are not too many women in our court of your age, so she has been greatly looking forward to your visit," Lord Larek stated as he introduced the petite woman on his arm with a warm smile.

"I can make my own friends dear brother," Avallin said teasingly as she allowed first Zan, and then Rath, to bow over her hand. "I am very happy that all of you are here, and not just for my sake, but for the sake of Antar and Darrgeos and the health of the Alliance."

"Well said Lady, well said," Zan replied with a charming grin. "Though I must say that your presence has certainly brightened our mission."

Avallin flushed prettily, hints of purple staining her cheeks, and her brother chuckled before Rath interjected his own comment. "Would you care to dance Lady Avallin?"

She nodded and took his hand as he led her to the center of the room, casting one more glance at her brother and the prince over her shoulder. Vilondra too was asked to dance by one of the Darrgeon generals and the two crown princes were left to their own devices, in other words war talk.

Liz found their conversation fascinating, but she was pulled away as consciousness returned, one last glimpse of the Lady Avallin spinning in Rath's arms burning into the back of her eyelids.

When she opened her eyes, she saw her sister's familiar rosy aura and her breath caught in her throat as she realized something else about her dream, and someone else who had had the same aura.

Suddenly her dreams seemed far less harmless, and far more important.

_February 6__th__, 1999_

Tess slipped into the library behind a large group of students, managing to avoid the sharp eyes of the far too nosy librarian. Her small size enabled her to disappear in the stacks and she quickly made her way back to the row of books dedicated to Roswell lore and the 'supposed' crash.

Thankfully not too many West Roswell High students were all that interested in the crash, and the row was deserted, just her and the books. She usually liked books, was even considered a bookworm by her sister's standards which were quite impressive, but these books sent shivers down her spine.

They had never really done any research into where she could have come from, preferring denial and ignorance over learning something they might not have been able to handle. Liz, being the science nerd she was, had checked blood cells from both of them under the microscope when they were younger and there were differences, noticeable enough that they had done their best to avoid ever having Tess go to the hospital or have her blood drawn at the doctors.

They had also practiced relentlessly until they could each manipulate a sample of her blood into appearing the same as Liz's, just in case.

Luckily they had both been abnormally healthy and other than annual checkups with the pediatrician, and a few forced therapy sessions after their mother's death, they had had little contact with anyone in the medical profession.

But Liz was having those dreams, those dreams that seemed so real and were of people and places that could only be called alien. It frightened and worried her that her sister was the one seeing everything, that her sister was the one suffering from lack of sleep and all too vivid visions, and that had been before last night.

Last night Liz had seen Tess in her dreams. She said she did not look the same, looked alien like the others, but the aura was the same, the aura belonging to some princess named Avallin. Liz was convinced that the dreams were of the past, that somehow she had lived before as some alien princess, before coming to Roswell, to Earth.

Tess did not want to know that, she did not want to be anything other than Tess Parker, daughter of Jeff and Nancy Parker, sister to Liz Parker; just a human girl with some extra mojo, a liking for sweet and spicy foods, and a mysterious past.

But they could no longer live in denial, so here she was, trying to find some truth amidst the reams and reams of drivel devoted to that night in 1947, the night that might hold the key to the answers they so desperately needed.

Even though the answers might destroy their lives.

~x~

"These are useless," Liz groused as she dropped the book she had just skimmed through on top of the growing pile of discards. "I never realized how many crazies got published."

Tess snorted softly, closing her own book and setting it on top of Liz's. "That one got a little too graphic with the autopsy details, and none of the descriptions match what you saw." She shuddered delicately. "Now I'm going to be the one with nightmares."

"I don't think we should stop looking, but I honestly don't think we're going to find anything in these books. If there is real information out there about the crash, about anything left behind, it's not going to be where any high school student can find it," Liz said seriously, her teeth worrying at her lower lip as she met Tess's gaze.

"I know," Tess replied quietly, and spread her hands in a helpless gesture. "But what else can we do?"

Liz shook her head, indicating that she did not know either, and after a moment they each picked another book and settled into read.

It might be frustrating and it might be fruitless, but they could not give up.

_March 19__th__, 1999_

"I can't believe Nick asked her out," Alex said with a groan, his voice barely audible since his head was buried in his hands.

"You should have beat him to it," Maria replied heartlessly as she examined her nails and the coat of red polish she had just applied to them.

He groaned again and Liz patted his back comfortingly. "If it's any consolation, I don't think Nick is the steady boyfriend type, I'm sure it will be over soon."

"You think so?" he asked hopefully, blue eyes peering through his fingers, but before she could reply he shook his head and covered his face again. "But no, then she'll be all sad and hurt and I'm not that kind of guy. Stupid Nick, why couldn't he have stayed in Florida?"

"Because he's evil," Tess stated matter of factly as she pried his hands away from his face one finger at a time. "And you need to get over this, be her friend, and help her deal with it when he shows her his dark side."

"His dark side?" Liz asked with a laugh as she captured Alex's right hand before he could cover his face again.

Tess just nodded as she grappled with Alex's other hand, and Maria pulled her concentration away from her nails to join the conversation. "I agree, Nick definitely has a dark side, all that military school training and abandonment issues? He's a ticking time bomb."

Alex paled slightly, "You're not making me feel better Maria."

"Oh your girl will be fine," she replied with a dismissive hand wave, "He's not the type to hurt a girl, physically anyways, but I wouldn't flirt with her if he was around."

Liz made a shushing motion at Maria while Tess turned Alex's head so he had to meet her gaze. "Don't listen to Maria, Alex. Just keep being the amazing supportive friend that you are and everything will be fine, I promise."

He still looked a little doubtful, but nodded anyways, unable to say no to that steady blue gaze, and Tess smiled determinedly as she released his head and cast a sly, sideways glance at her sister.

"And just think, once Nick moves on, you and her can double date with Liz and her brother."

"Tess!" Liz exclaimed, her eyes wide and cheeks suddenly flushed.

"I still think you should go for Max, he's friends with Raelyn, you two could still double date, and girl that boy is as hot as they come," Maria added with a wink at Tess, who winked right back.

The mission to distract Alex, and tease Liz, was underway.

"Either way Liz, you really should go for one, leading them on like this just doesn't suit your good girl image," her sister stated archly and Liz fumed.

"I am not leading either of them on!"

"The lady doth protest too much," Maria commented dryly before tossing Liz her nail polish bottle. "Try this, crimson seduction. Max gets one look of your nails in that wrapped around a beaker and he'll take you on the lab table."

"I really didn't need that image," Alex interjected as Liz's face started to match the shade of polish.

"And if you really want the bad boy, I'm sure Michael would find that color very sexy," Maria continued relentlessly, her smirk as wide as Tess's.

Liz turned to look at Alex plaintively, "How about we find some new friends? Surely not everyone is as mean as these two with their 'friendly' advice."

The other two girls giggled as Alex wrapped a commiserating arm around her shoulder, "Just give in and accept it, they will never stop talking about your life. And really Liz, you should pick one, so we can live vicariously through you."

Liz had relaxed into his hug at first, but at his last words shoved him away with an offended huff that sent the other two into renewed gales of laughter. "Not you too, now I really am doomed."

"Yes you are," Alex said thoughtfully, "Yes you are."


	10. Chapter Ten: Blood Stained Memories

_**Chapter Ten: Blood Stained Memories**_

_March 28__th__, 1999_

_Ava and Zan were betrothed. They seem to like each other, but it is also about political alliance, trying to settle the unrest that certain factions of the Darrgeon government are instigating against the Antarians. The peace visit is over and the three have returned to Antar along with Avallin and her brother Larek, who as crown prince will represent Darrgeos in finalizing the betrothal arrangements. Ava and Lonnie have become great friends, but there seems to be some tension between Ava and Rath, I don't know why, the dreams have shown me nothing that would explain it._

Liz finished detailing the latest dream in the new journal she had purchased for just that purpose, and then capped her pen, tapping it against her lips in thought. The dreams so far had been in sequence, but they jumped around in time.

It wasn't like they had date stamps or anything, but she could tell that some were weeks or months after others, and some would show glimpses of the same day. They had also become more frequent, she had had one or more every night for the past two weeks. But there were still gaps, missing pieces of information that she knew were key.

Ever since they had discovered that Tess was in the dreams, or some incarnation of her, she had a burning need to analyze every detail. If she was not afraid of someone finding her notes, she would have worked up some charts and graphs, an urge her sister teased her about in her occasional attempts to lighten their frequently gloomy mood.

She could not help but stress over what the dreams meant, and why she was having them. They had known that Tess wasn't human for years,al though it hadn't meant much to them other than something to be hidden, so what had triggered the visions? Was it the same energy they had felt when they returned to Roswell? Why was knowing the past important, and how was it going to affect their present, or their future?

Her schoolwork was starting to be affected by her lack of sleep, and it was only a matter of time before someone noticed or commented on the obvious strain both of them were under. They needed answers and they needed them soon, or she just might go crazy and Tess would not be far behind.

_April 4__th__, 1999_

The door was shaking from the force of the blows against it and Avallin stood at the far back of the bathing room, hands empty of weapons but balled into fists, and cold fire blazing from her dark almond eyes. She had been the only one not in the main room, but she had heard the screams and locked herself in, knowing that it was futile, but not wanting to make her death easy on them.

The door finally broke and soldiers poured through; the first three burst into flames and died screaming on the stone floor. The two after that managed to get shots off and bloodied holes appeared in her gown as she slid down the wall. Her eyes never closed; even after her last breath escaped from her lungs, instead they burned into Liz's as the flames burned the room to ash.

Only the small hand over her mouth stopped her from screaming as she bolted awake, sweat matting her hair to her skull as she panted, her mind still clawing its way out of the dream. The images had been so vivid; so violent and intense, that part of her could not believe that they had only been a dream and not something she had actually witnessed.

Tess was staring down at her with concerned blue eyes and she removed her hand when it became clear that Liz was not going to scream and wake up their father. "What was it this time?"

Liz hesitated for a moment, her heart clenching with pain and her voice breaking over the words she finally spoke, "I saw you die."

Tess's eyes widened as she rocked back, her hand rising to her throat as her knees buckled and she collapsed suddenly onto the bed. She shakily tried for a smile, "I guess it wasn't peaceful?"

Liz shook her head wordlessly as she climbed over to sit by her, wrapping her arms around her sister to reassure herself that she was real, that it had just been a dream, and that even if it had actually happened, she was alive now and it was going to be okay.

_'I don't think I want to see what you saw this time,' _Tess said in their silent way, trembling slightly in her sister's embrace. Usually Liz shared the visions so that they could both see everything, and so that she could look for things Liz might miss, gain new perspective. But her own death? She didn't know if she could handle that.

_'You don't have to,'_ Liz replied, hugging her tighter. _'I don't want you to.'_

_April 10__th__, 1999_

They were having their semi-weekly dinner with their father, an attempt they had started to try and rebuild their relationship when they returned from Florida.

Usually they just discussed school and the restaurant, but that night he had brought up their mother, saying that they should not be afraid to talk about her, or remember the good times. They did not disagree, but they had been barely holding it together since Liz's most recent dream, and although she had not had one since, in fact had been experiencing a strange lull, they lived in fear of what would come next. Trying to process their grief on top of that, it was too much right then.

"We do remember her Dad, we don't want to forget her, ever," Tess stated gently, "But it…it's hard to talk about her."

Liz nodded her agreement and their father looked a little lost, obviously unsure where to go from there, and they both knew he was trying so hard to be there for them after being apart for so long.

They exchanged a long glance and then Liz reached across the table and took his hand, "How about next weekend we lock the doors and watch old home movies and go through the photo albums?"

He squeezed her hand and smiled, a spark of the fun loving man they remembered appearing in his eyes, "I'll bring the tissues; you guys bring the ice cream."

"It's a date," Tess said softly as she took his other hand, and all three smiled at each other, eyes glittering with tears both happy and sad.

Figuring out the dreams was important, but so was their family, and neither of the girls would accept losing the parent they had already lost once. Especially given their fears over what the future might bring.

_April 16__th__, 1999_

"Mrs. Hardy didn't tell me you needed tutoring Kyle," Liz stated quizzically as she looked at the second young man who had walked into the Biology classroom after school. She had been tutoring Brad all semester, but Kyle Valenti, though no academic, was doing well enough on his own as far as she knew.

"Oh she didn't assign me to you," he said with a charming smile as he leaned against the lab table next to her. "But I wanted to brush up before the test next week and Brad here told me how helpful you were,"

Liz eyed him doubtfully, not trusting that his motives were that simple, but he was nice enough and although Maria didn't like to admit it, he was most likely going to be practically family soon. "Well have a seat then, Brad is working on the experiment we did in class but once I get him set up, I can help you if you don't mind waiting."

"I definitely don't mind waiting for you, Liz," he replied with a wink, and much to her surprise, Liz found herself blushing as she turned to walk over to Brad. What was that about? She did not have time for flirting and even if she did, did she really want to flirt with Kyle?

As she helped Brad set up the beakers and corrected his measurements, she stole the occasional glance at the other boy in the room, wondering if she had lost her mind when the thought that he really was not that bad looking crossed her mind.

She had an emotionally draining weekend ahead, and mysterious dreams about her sister's past life and death as an alien princess to contend with, Kyle Valenti was just going to have to find someone else to charm. And neither Tess nor Maria could _ever_ learn of his visit, or her thoughts that maybe she had enjoyed it, ever.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Seeking Normal

_**Chapter Eleven: Seeking Normal**_

_May 1__st__, 1999_

"I love Wednesday Addams," Tess declared with a grin as Liz hit rewind on the VCR. "She is just so delightfully evil."

"I'm more a fan of Morticia, that is one sexy lady," Alex disagreed, a dreamy smile on his face, and the girls laughed.

Maria rolled onto her side on the pile of sleeping bags and raised an eyebrow at him. "A sexy lady that would eat you for lunch," she commented dryly, and then nodded at Tess. "I'm with Tess, Wednesday's a pretty awesome girl. I think I'll need to take some tips from her on dealing with brothers if the Sheriff and my mom ever decide to make it official."

Alex shook his head, popping a couple cheese puffs in his mouth and crunching happily, then swallowing. "Kyle's not so bad."

Maria scoffed, "Not so bad? He's on the football team, the basketball team, the baseball team, and the wrestling team. That's the definition of so bad."

Tess laughed, then looked surprised at herself and snagged the bag of cheese puffs from Alex to cover the moment as Liz sat back down and started sorting through the pile of movies they had left to watch.

"You agree with me, don't you Liz? About Kyle?" Maria pleaded, turning large green eyes on her best friend, who glanced up at her for a moment and then stared back down at the movies.

"I don't know, he seems nice enough."

Maria looked at her suspiciously before rolling back onto her stomach and reaching for a bag of Hershey's kisses. "I am disappointed in all of you. If one of us hates, all of us hate, that's the best friend code."

"And if you really hated him, we would too Maria, now come on, it's your turn to pick the movie," Liz said soothingly as she slid the pile of videos over to the blond.

She huffed but took the pile, discarding the movies one by one before tossing her choice back at Liz. "Here, Lost in Space, let's get back to our alien obsessed roots."

The brunette caught the movie and stood up to put it in the VCR, resisting the urge to glance at her sister. Their goal with the movie night had been to avoid their alien obsessed roots. Clearly that was not in the cards.

After pressing play and settling back down between Tess and Maria, she gently squeezed her sister's hand, they should have known better than to hope for such an occurrence in Roswell, home of the alien nation.

_May 14__th__, 1999_

"Hello Liz, you are looking lovely today," Kyle Valenti said with a wink and a smile as he stopped her in the hallway outside her Spanish class.

Liz felt herself flush and smiled hesitantly up at him, not sure what to say.

"I just wanted to thank you for all your tutoring time; Ms. Hardy has never been more surprised to give someone a B," Kyle continued when she did not respond.

"Well I'm glad I could be of assistance," she finally replied, eyes twinkling, "It wouldn't do to meet Ms. Hardy's expectations."

"No it definitely would not, and I look forward to seeing you the next time I feel the need to watch her face turn that particular shade."

Liz's smile grew wider and she found herself surprised at how easy their conversation was, and how pleasant. Suddenly Michael brushed past them on his way into class, sending her a sideways glance that managed to be both amused and judgemental. Her smile faltered, and anger, with just the faintest touch of guilt, rose inside of her.

Kyle looked faintly puzzled, not having missed the silent exchange, but reached out and lightly touched her hand. "I'll talk to you later?"

She nodded; resolve firming, "I would like that Kyle." He grinned and she turned to head into class herself, feeling a little surge of satisfaction when she saw Michael sitting in the second row back, where he had sat ever since asking her if she was okay a month before.

When she sat down in front of him, she heard him speak again, his words only audible to her, "Really Parker, Valenti? He doesn't seem your type."

Turning her head slightly so that her voice would not carry past the two of them, she confidently replied, "You of all people should know better than to judge someone based on reputation. Besides, Michael, what would you know about my type?"

"Touché Parker, Touché. But I still think you could do better."

After that, he fell silent and she stared sightlessly at the bored as the teacher began conjugating verbs. Part of her, a very small part of her, was prepared to admit that Michael had a point, Kyle was not someone she would have pictured herself liking. But he was nice, and smarter than he was given credit for, and most importantly? He was pursuing her, which was more than she could say for anyone else who might or might not have been interested.

And despite being not your average teenage girl, she still had some of the qualities of one, and enjoying the feeling of being wanted was definitely one of them.

_May 30__th__, 1999_

"What do you mean you broke up with her, Nick?" Liz asked angrily as she stared at her cousin across the table. She might no longer be friends with the girl, but she knew that she was a good person, and Alex was most definitely still hung up on her, which meant that she was part of that all important friend of a best friend circle.

He just shrugged. "You know I'm going back to Florida as soon as school is out now that mom is back from her dig, it was going to have to end sometime."

Tess rolled her eyes disgustedly and Maria glared at him, both girls previous dislike escalated by his callous treatment of a fellow female.

"And when did you know you were going back to Florida, Nick?" Liz asked overly sweetly, her dark eyes flashing dangerously as he managed an almost shamed look.

"Six months ago," he replied quietly.

"And wasn't that before you asked her out? Oh yes it was," she stated scathingly before he could speak again, folding her arms over her chest and casting a glance over at the tree where the girl in question was sitting with her brother and Alex. She noticed that Michael was shooting Nick a particularly deadly look and smirked.

"Well I'm pretty sure her brother's going to find a way to make you pay, but let's plan on this being the last time you stay in Roswell, kay cuz?"

He looked down awkwardly and after a moment Tess raised an eyebrow at him. "And why are you still sitting at our table."

Nick stood up and walked away after shooting them one more unreadable look, and the three girls exchanged disgusted glances. "Told you, dark side," Tess said with a faint smile, and Liz shook her head as Maria chuckled dryly.

"Yes you did, I bow to your wisdom dear sister."

"About time," Tess said with a haughty sniff, and all three girls laughed while Liz snuck another glance over at Raelyn, and Michael, and wondered if the evil male relative rule applied to brothers too.


	12. Chapter Twelve: The Paths We Take

_**Chapter Twelve: The Paths We Take**_

_June 6__th__, 1999_

Liz was walking down the hallway to clean out her locker, when, for the first time in her high school career, she was pulled into a janitor's closet. "What the..." she exclaimed, trailing off when she saw the nervously smiling face of Kyle Valenti.

"What's going on Kyle?"

"I wanted to ask you something, privately."

"Okay," she said, tilting her head and worrying at her lower lip. "What's up."

"I…I was wondering if you would like to go out sometime?" he asked, hesitant at first but his voice gaining confidence as he continued, his blue eyes sparkling hopefully at her by the time he finished.

She blinked and opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again as she considered what she wanted to say. Part of her had been aware that something like this was coming, but she could honestly say that she had not been expecting to be asked out that morning.

Noting the anxious look creeping back on his face, she felt a warm sensation in her chest. He really did like her, he was worried about her saying no. And despite the fact that dating was the last thing she should be considered in her life right then, she did not want to say no. She wanted to take this piece of normal and run with it.

So she reached out and took his hand, smiling brilliantly at him. "I would really like that Kyle."

He smiled back and stepped a little closer, the anxiety faded from his gaze and replaced by a mischievous twinkle. "Seal it with a kiss?"

She flushed, feeling butterflies suddenly start in her stomach as reality settled in, but she nodded and closed her eyes as he leaned in.

His lips were warm and dry, a little chapped but not rough. The kiss lasted for several seconds and she responded, feeling a heady mixture of relief and disappointment when he pulled away before attempting anything more in depth.

There was a brief moment of awkward silence, and then he spoke up again. "I copied your number from Maria's little purple phone book the last time we were at her house for dinner, I'll call you?"

She laughed, "Yes call me, and I won't tell her that you invaded her privacy so that she doesn't have you murdered."

"Thank you," he said with a heartfelt tone, and she thought again how nice his smile was as he opened the door a crack to peer down the hall. "The coast is clear, you can escape with your reputation intact," he added with a wink, holding the door open for her.

She walked into the hallway, and after he joined her, they walked to her locker. Maria and Tess were both there waiting for her and they looked rather surprised to see her escort. When she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and stated "I'm looking forward to your call," before joining them as he walked away grinning, their mouths practically fell open.

"Liz," Maria said warningly, "Tell me that you are not going out with the jock that my mother is most likely going to make my step-brother."

Liz grinned as she piled her personal belongings into her backpack and pulled the photo strips of the four of them off of the locker door. "Sorry Maria, I don't like lying to my best friend."

Tess let out a laugh as Maria gasped, her expression horrified. "Liz! You…you! Oh!"

Alex walked up, looking puzzled, and glanced at Maria's red face, and Liz's laughing one, before settling on Tess who was grinning like crazy. "So what did I miss?"

"Kyle asked Liz out, apparently she said yes, and now Maria is having what seems to be an apoplectic fit," Tess stated flippantly, her eyes glittering with laughter as she laced her arm through his. "How is your last day going?"

"Oh you know, same old same old. Wow, Liz and Kyle?" he said casually at first, before letting his own surprise filter into his tone. "I gotta say I did not see that coming."

"I didn't either," Tess agreed, casting a suspicious glance at her sister. "I wonder if she's been keeping things from us."

Liz rolled her eyes affectionately as she put her backpack back on and took Alex's other arm, leaning her head on his shoulder. "He's flirted with me off and on, but he flirts with a lot of girls, I wasn't keeping anything from you. Believe me, I did not expect him to…ask me out today," she said, blushing slightly as she held herself back from mentioning the kiss.

"Okay Chica, I am still so not all right with you saying yes, but I want details because you missy, are holding something back," Maria stated firmly, her face no longer red as she stepped forward and invaded Liz's personal face, her green eyes penetrating.

Liz sighed, "Come on let's go to the Crashdown and we can get some milkshakes and go up to my room. I'll tell you everything."

Maria eyed her suspiciously for a moment before apparently deciding to trust her. "Okay, let's go, I need gossip!"

Liz groaned and Alex tugged her towards the door while Tess giggled. She really should have thought it through before telling Kyle yes. Maybe she should avoid boys entirely until college when Maria could only interrogate her on the phone.

_'You still wouldn't be safe from me!' _Her sister sing-songed in her head and Liz shot a glare at her behind Alex's back for the blatant breach of privacy. Tess just grinned at her unrepentantly and Liz groaned again. Doomed, she was definitely doomed.

_July 22__nd__, 1999_

Liz was out on another date with Kyle, and Maria was working, so Tess was sitting curled up on their balcony all alone. Alex had been strangely absent for the past week, and had seemed very distracted the few times any of them tried to talk to him. It made her wonder if Liz was not the only one to start a relationship that summer.

They were growing up, in ways different than the maturing they had been forced to undergo when their mother died and their father exiled them.

She traced her fingers over the familiar lettering of her favorite book, a collection of fairy tales Grandma Claudia had given her the year after she became a part of the Parker family. The inscription on the inside still made her teary eyed, _'To my beloved granddaughter, Tess Parker. May light always shine on you as you have brought light to our family.'_

The words had not made sense to her when she first read them, but now, now when her very identity was being called into question, they reassured her as little else could. Liz had not had any more dreams since that night, that horrible night, but neither of them saw that as a good sign.

She was not a control freak like her sister could be, but the loss of control she had been feeling ever since the night her sister woke up and stared at her with that shocked look on her face, before gasping a name that Tess knew that she had never heard before, but yet resounded through her soul, was terrifying.

And now they were trying to be normal, and her sister was dating, and it just all felt so wrong. She should not be jealous of her sister, but sometimes she could not help herself when she saw her smiling and laughing with Kyle.

Boys had asked her out, but none that she considered worth even one date as she knew they were only asking because of her blonde hair, blue eyes, and bra size. She had actually thought about Kyle occasionally, ever since he hijacked their vacation the year before they returned to Roswell, but other than the occasional admiring glance or moment of banter, he had never expressed any interest, and now she knew why.

And she had to admit that if it had been anyone but her sister, she would have been angry rather than hurt. But she loved her sister, so she had not said anything, and instead focused all of her energy into reading and rereading Liz's notes on those damn dreams.

She was curious despite herself about the past that she had apparently lived, but nothing other than the names had struck any chord of memory in her. She wondered what had happened to bring her here, to this life, and if she was the only one, or were there others?

There were just too many questions that did not have answers buried in the dreams, and the biggest one of all, _why_, was the one she wanted answered the most. Why was she different, why was she here, why could she not be normal?

"If you were normal then you wouldn't have Liz," she told herself, and let the memories of all of the scrapes they had gotten themselves into, and out of, with their abilities flow through her mind. She also would not have had Mom, or Dad, or the rest of their family. And even being related to Nick was more than worth having the rest of them.

"So shut up and count your blessings," she concluded, her voice stern, and then laughed at herself before turning the page to the first fairytale, the one Liz had told her when they huddled under her bed all those years ago.

Being normal was just not that important to her when it came down to it, not important at all.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Hurricane in Roswell

_**Chapter Thirteen: Hurricane in Roswell**_

_August 13__th__, 1999_

_She was warm and safe, resting in perfect contentment with the knowledge that all was right in her world. But something disturbed that peace, a sudden sense of loss, and her sleep became less restful until finally she fought her way to consciousness._

_A soft glow suffused her senses and she clawed against the barrier holding her in until she slid onto the floor, the sudden shock of cold stone disorienting after the cocooning warmth she had just left. The shock of being alone was much more profound._

_They were supposed to be there. She did not know who they were, but she knew that they were not there, and that she was all alone. It was terrifying._

_She waited for what seemed like forever, staring at the empty pods, until an unfamiliar sensation in her stomach drove her to explore her surroundings. She touched something that called out to her with an unseen pull, and a blast of hot air swirled around her body as a grinding noise revealed a path that led away from the cave and into the bright desert._

_She stepped out and then stared down at her feet as pain lanced through them from the heat of the rock and sand. A glow like the one inside the cave surrounded them for a moment, and then they did not hurt anymore so she began to walk._

_She walked until it got dark and her legs were shaking from exhaustion. Two bright lights appeared out of the night and headed straight towards her and she closed her eyes, too tired to try and move out of the way._

_She just wanted to find the others._

Both girls woke up at the same time, hearts pounding to the same adrenaline fueled rhythm. Their heads turned in sync and their eyes met with the identical shocked realization that they had shared the dream.

"There are more like you," Liz breathed into the heavy silence, and Tess shivered as long buried memories surfaced, memories of an aching hole in her soul that bonding with Liz had filled so completely she had forgotten its existence.

She sat up and ran her fingers through her curls distractedly. "Is that why we felt energy when we came to Roswell? Are they here?"

Liz shook her head mutely as she stood and started pacing, unable to hold still with all of the nervous energy running through her. "If they are here, do they know? About your past, about you?"

Before Tess could answer, the brunette's eyes widened as she made another connection. "There were three other pods Tess; it must be Zan, Vilondra, and Rath! It's the only thing that makes sense. But why, how, did all of you get here?"

Tess felt just as disoriented as she had in that first memory as she reeled from one shock after another. She had known that the dreams were not over, that whatever had sent her here could not be ignored, but she had not expected to feel a sudden mix of burning fear and desire to find those other three, to find answers.

"What do we do?" she asked Liz, her hands gripping the covers so hard that her knuckles were white as her conflicted emotions resounded down the bond to her sister.

Liz walked forward and sat on the bed next to her, her large brown eyes serious and her face strained. "We watch. We look for anyone who could be them, with our eyes, and our other senses, and we be very careful because Tess, if you four could come back, what if your enemies are still looking for you?"

Tess felt faint as she realized the truth of her sister's words and reaching out, she grasped her hand with desperate need. "We be _very_ careful. I can't lose you Liz, and Dad can't lose us, he wouldn't survive."

Liz nodded and pulled her in for a fierce hug as they both clung to the only thing that made sense in the nightmare their life had suddenly become, each other.

_September 18__th__, 1999_

Tess had been watching the way Max and Michael watched her sister, and trying to decide for herself if she wanted to encourage her to go after either of them, or find a way to make both of them leave her sister alone. The one thing holding her back was the fear that it was her own selfish desire for Liz's current boyfriend prompting her to think about telling Liz to consider Michael.

Sometimes she wished that she did not have a conscience.

Thoughts of her and her sister's love life had been the only things keeping her sane for the past month, the only thing keeping her from watching everyone in town like she was one of the paranoid conspiracy theorists who haunted Roswell. She had never really felt alone, because even though they were not exactly the same, Liz _was_ her sister, and she had never felt like an outsider because of that. But suddenly knowing that there were others out there, others like her; it was both exhilarating and terrifying because above all it meant that pretending to be normal might not be an option much longer.

But the thoughts of her and her sister's love life, and their alien fears, were wiped away when the argument by the door got so loud that no one could ignore it anymore, and a new kind of dread tightened her gut.

All of a sudden there was a gun waving, the fluorescent lights glinting off the cold metal, and then there was a brief flash, so small that if she had been entirely human she probably would not have noticed it, and then Liz was falling, and there was red seeping through the front of her uniform, and _oh-my-god_ her sister had been shot, and she had to get to her, she had to heal her like she had all those years ago.

But Maria was clutching her hysterically, and there were people watching, and she was trying to get to Liz, but Maria just would not stop screaming, and then Max, tall quiet Max, was bending over Liz and tearing her uniform open and there was blood, so much blood, and he put his hand over the bullet hole and he told Liz to look at him and she did.

Then his hand was glowing and she could feel the connection between them through her own connection with her sister, and what did it mean, was he one of the others? Had Max lived in one of those pods? Was he like her? How could they not have sensed it before?

Maria stopped screaming, and Liz was okay, and Max was breaking a bottle of ketchup, and suddenly she could move again. She shoved Maria out of the way and knelt next to her sister to hide her from view, waving a hand over her uniform so that the buttons were done up and the blood underneath the ketchup was gone. Max saw her do it with wide eyes, and then he ran out of the restaurant and she cursed under her breath. Way to look suspicious, idiot.

She helped Liz stand up and oh-so-casually moved back to the wall behind her as people rushed up to see if her sister was okay.

As soon as Liz started telling her ketchup bottle story with a perfect embarrassed blush and giggle, her sister was such a good liar, she waved her hand behind her back over the right side of the doorframe leading to the kitchens, and suddenly there was a bullet hole with bullet, readymade for the Sheriff to find.

Liz pulled away from the crowd and grabbed her hand and looked her in the eyes, and they both knew; everything had changed.


End file.
